(NEW YORK) - The Hunger Games fans are counting down the days until Catching Fire opens on Nov. 22, but some parents have taken their love for the characters created by writer Suzanne Collins and named their children after the trilogy’s inspiring teenagers.
Scott and Christel Koedel of Ocean Ridge, Fla., named their first-born daughter Katniss, 2, after the heroine played by Jennifer Lawrence.
“I read The Hunger Games — and loved Katniss — early on when it was an unknown teen-lit series,” Christel, 35, tells PEOPLE. While her husband Scott, 37, didn’t read the books until his baby was six months old, he understood his wife’s choice. “Katniss is very grounded,” he says.
And like her fictional namesake, this little girl is very protective of her little sister, Kaia, 1. Christel, who’s pregnant, isn’t sure about naming her third child after another Hunger Games character but admits, “I do like Gale [who's played by Liam Hemsworth in the films]. It’s a good strong name.”
And like her fictional namesake, this little girl is very protective of her little sister, Kaia, 1. Christel, who’s pregnant, isn’t sure about naming her third child after another Hunger Games character but admits, “I do like Gale [who's played by Liam Hemsworth in the films]. It’s a good strong name.”
Trey Boggs, 26, of Bethlehem, Ga., explains why he and his wife, Kelsey, chose to name their 16-month-old son, Finnick, after the character played by Sam Claflin. “I’m a closet nerd,” he tells PEOPLE. “No one expects a cop to like The Hunger Games!”
But the name fits their “adventurous and independent” toddler perfectly. “He always wants to go explore,” Kelsey, 24, says. “He’s fearless,” adds Trey.
For more on Catching Fire, including interviews with Josh Hutcherson and Lenny Kravitz, pick up PEOPLE‘s Special Collector’s Issue, on newsstands now.